Microsoft is developing new Xbox consoles, the company's head of Xbox said on stage at E3 2018 today.

"Our hardware team is deep into developing the next generation of Xbox consoles, where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming," said Phil Spencer, master of ceremonies for Microsoft's Xbox E3 showcase.

No details on the hardware were offered, including when we might expect it. But despite the lack of details, it's likely reassuring for Xbox fans that there will be a followup to the Xbox One X. Not that they had much reason to doubt there would be.

Console lifecycles can span several years, and by November 2019 the Xbox One X will be two years old, so a refresh could make sense then.

Sony recently confirmed that that PS4 is nearing the end of its life span, though that console is already five years old.

This week, Microsoft is in Los Angeles where the company announced that they acquired five gaming studios and that they are working on next-gen consoles as well as a new game streaming service.

Phil Spencer said that the company’s cloud engineers are working to bring console-quality games streaming to any device. Microsoft already allows in-home game streaming with its Xbox console and the Xbox app on the PC and this streaming service is a natural extension of that experience. It’s also not hard to imagine that the streaming service will be linked to Xbox Game Pass too.

Spencer also confirmed that the company is working on new iterations of the Xbox console but this shouldn’t come as a big surprise. I have been told that the codename for the next series of devices is currently Scarlet but I don’t know a timeline for release at this time.

But, seeing as streaming is going to be a focus, the company’s mixed reality headsets are evolving to have more features and applications, and the company’s ability to have one game run on multiple platforms, it’s not too hard to imagine what the company may include in the next iteration of the console hardware.

Any way you look at it, Microsoft has put a considerable amount of effort into making the Xbox brand exciting and the future looks promising for those invested in the ecosystem.